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But Jurgen Klopp's men showed at Brighton that they are made of stern stuff themselves, raising the prospect of a lengthy slog between the two rivals for the trophy.

After his previous experiences as a manager, the former Barcelona and Bayern manager has told his team to ignore everything to do with Liverpool's fixtures in order to minimise their chances of slipping up.

"I don't have a magician's ball to discover when we're going to lose points," he said.

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"I don't know and I said to the [players] don't look at the scale [table], don't watch the calendar for the Liverpool games, forget about it.

"Normally when this happens you then you lose your own games, in my experience. It distracts from what you have to do and then it's over. The best way is to look at the next game - Huddersfield with a new manager. What can you do to beat them?

"If you win [your] games and Liverpool win then I will congratulate Jurgen because it will be well deserved. All we can do is be there and feel we are there and win our games.

"I don't like to play on Mondays when everybody has already played and against a team that has had incredible results. That's why I'm pleased with the game today."

Guardiola has previously spoken about the potential pressure on Liverpool as they try to end their 29-year wait for a league title, and is aiming to push them as hard as he can waiting for an opportunity where City can pounce on any mistake.

"We cannot play the games against them, we cannot do anything about them, all we can do is win our games," he said.

"We've spoken to our players in the last hours, we cannot control what they do. We have to wait and if maybe one day they fail we'll be there. If we don't win or if they don't lose they'll be champions.

"That's why you have to put pressure on by winning your games, we spoke about that. We've done incredible numbers after last season, the numbers to be champion is no problem but one team has done better so far. All we can do is be there until the end and the results will dictate who will win."